Gook (???) (1912) -- Goo-goo

[Jonathan Lighter]

Sylvia Plath seems to have preferred "gobbledygoo," as in her well-known poem "Daddy."

This form is quite current in non-S.E. circles along with "gobbledygoop."  All vars. also exist with "gobbly..."  (Without the Net, we might not know this.)

William and Mary Morris long ago reported a letter from a WWI vet who claimed to have heard "gobbledygook" from a fellow soldier in 1918.

Maury Maverick did not quite claim to have coined the word. He said he wasn't sure.  Evidently he'd known it for a long time.



JL

"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Subject: Re: Gook (???) (1912) -- Goo-goo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>Maury Maverick is said to have coined/popularized it in 1944. You have 1943?
>In any case, it's not much older than that.

Right, on closer glance, March 1944, spelled "gobbledygook" usually. The
1943 date was in error.

I suppose modeled on "hobbledehoy" maybe.

-- Doug Wilson

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com